Luwire Photographic Safaris

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

"When a candidate for public office faces the voters he does not face men of sense; he faces a mob of men whose chief distinguishing mark is the fact that they are quite incapable of weighing ideas, or even of comprehending any save the most elemental — men whose whole thinking is done in terms of emotion, and whose dominant emotion is dread of what they cannot understand. So confronted, the candidate must either bark with the pack or be lost... All the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre — the man who can most adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum. The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."

Quote

"The fact is that the average man's love of liberty is nine-tenths imaginary, exactly like his love of sense, justice and truth. He is not actually happy when free; he is uncomfortable, a bit alarmed, and intolerably lonely. Liberty is not a thing for the great masses of men.

It is the exclusive possession of a small and disreputable minority, like knowledge, courage and honor.

It takes a special sort of man to understand and enjoy liberty — and he is usually an outlaw in democratic societies."

Monday, August 26, 2013

Bull Arabs, Staghound Bull Arab crosses, Bad Boys and Girls! Australians hunt in a lot of semi open ground and have developed their Hog Dogs for such. The Australian Bull Arab is a cross between the English Bull Terrier and the Grey Hound, (thus the Arab in the name). Tough, hard hunting and very athletic! Not much nose needed as most hunting is done by sight so very little hound in the blood line if any. A lot of Wolfhound, Mastiff and Great Dane is used in crosses for size. Hats off to them!All pics come from Boardogs website.

hsjfults coveTennessee131/88"Live and learn, lad. If you live."and moreWhat I like about you is that I think you are a seeker of Truth and don'tcome across as a know-it-all. I think you are honest and open-minded.Those are two rock solid fundamentals the seeker of Truth must have if heis to have any hope of being successful in the search.

I am a big believer in paying attention to lessons learned by theexperience of others. Broadens out your data set considerably as opposedto the limited experience and mental capacity of a single individual. SoI like to go back as often as possible to see what the Old Boys said.The survivors. Some of that is baloney and hollow rhetoric and may notapply any more. But some of it is right and we need to pay attention.As the old song says, "The fundamentals still apply, as time goes by."

The problem with lessons from the past is that they are quickly forgottenand have to be learned again over and over, often at the cost of blood,sweat, tears, pain, agony, suffering. Winston Churchill put it this way:"Never despise your enemy is an old lesson, but it has to be learnedafresh, year after year, by every nation that is warlike and brave."

If you want to think about Stopping Power, I refer you to Chapter VII in"Shooting to Live" by W. E. Fairbairn and E. A. Sykes. If you don't havea copy in your library, by all means pick up one and re-read that chapterevery now and then to keep your feet on solid ground.

"But they were restricted to ball ammo and we now have much improvedammo," you will say. Maybe we do. Or maybe we don't. If you get toomuch expansion you will lose penetration and a round may be stopped bythick winter clothing, bone, or simply by hard muscle. Simple ball ammothat provides the penetration needed to reach vital organs may be thebetter choice. Particularly when shot in small pistols or revolvers withshort barrels that don't provide the velocity needed for HP rounds tofunction properly. Given the choice, I will rely on penetration first andnot be overly concerned about expansion. And always bear in mind thatbullet placement trumps caliber.

We were taught that situation and terrain determines tactics. You needto know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to go all out,know when to run. Situational Awareness is a basic fundamental you needto drill into your students. Awareness can save your butt. Lack of itcan get you killed. --- "A Snyder squibbed in the jungle. Somebodylaughed and fled. And the men of the First Shakaris picked up theirSubaltern dead. With a big blue mark in his forehead and the back blownout of his head." --- A single round fired from a Single Action .45 ina dark room and Billy the Kid was dead on his feet. --- A shotgun blastfrom ambush in the empty desert and Pat Garret was dead on his feet.

All the strength, vigor, agility, and quick reaction time you may havewhen young will fade to weakness and trembling if you live long enough toreach old age. Old age is the ultimate enemy. If you don't die first itwill drag you down. You end up half deaf, half blind, with uncertainknees and legs and slowed reactions. Might be good to bear in mind thatyou really don't have to reach old age for those conditions to kick in.Sickness, wounds, drugs, or alcohol can do it to you in minutes.

One of the defining characteristics of humans is that they are infinitelycapable of self delusion. To recognize Reality is one of the biggestproblems we face in life. As Mollie Brewer's grandfather, a cattleman onTongue River in Montana, said, "They say we live and learn. We all livebut damn few learn."

Maybe the biggest problem we face is the one of distinguishing betweenTrue Reality and Perceived Reality. Culture plays a big part in that.Culture matters, race does not. Change the culture and all the rules arechanged.and moreWhen young, iron sights served me well out to 600 or 1000 yards. I couldsee rifle and handgun sights clearly and down range too.

Sometime in my late 40s I had to start using reading glasses to seenewsprint or handgun sights clearly. Sometime in my 70s I lost allvision in my right eye to macular degeneration. I get along fairly wellnow with the one eye and reading glasses but things are pretty fuzzywithout them. The older and less physically capable I became the less Ishot long guns and the more I depended on handguns.

I used to shoot tight groups offhand on 3 x 5 index targets with avariety of pistols and revolvers at a range of 21 feet. Began to have touse glasses to do it.

In the last twenty years have focused mostly on close-range combatshooting for personal defense. Quickly realized you cannot rely onseeing sights well at such times. Statistics tell us that most suchencounters occur in low light conditions. I began to practice shootingin low light conditions to the point of almost total darkness. If yougot a fair number of hits on the 3 x 5 target you were a survivor. Ifyou got no hits at all you were dead.

Also quickly realized you can't depend on having glasses to improve yourdeteriorating vision. In quick-breaking confrontations you won't havetime to find your glasses or put them on. Or you will lose them in astruggle or other violent physical activity. Then you are not only halfdeaf from gunfire but also half blind.

I started practicing this close range combat type shooting with nosights. A friend and I took all the sights off a Glock pistol and beganshooting with it in a variety of light conditions on an 8 x 10 inch sheetof paper at 21 feet. Using the outline of the gun itself we couldconsistently get 4 and 5-inch groups on the target as long as there waslight enough to see the outline of the gun and the target itself. Thatexperience pretty much carried through with all the pistols and revolversI worked with, the flat-topped semi-auto pistols being the best. Justcome down until the topline of the gun goes to a flat line and shoot.Jim Cirillo talks about this type of sighting in his book "Guns, Bullets,and Gunfights"--calling it "the weapon silhouette point." It is apractical low light shooting technique. Also works well for an old manwith poor vision who can't find his glasses. "It will get you throughthe night," as a Deputy Sheriff friend of mine says.

"But you are young," you say, "and have excellent eyesight and don't needglasses." Lad, you are about to get snakebit if you depend on that. Youdon't need to wait until you are old to have deteriorating vision. Dust,sand, smoke, wind, rain, sun in your eyes can wreck your vision inseconds. As can a wide variety of aerosol sprays readily available inany grocery or convenience store.

The lesson learned is that you cannot depend on strong physical conditionand good eyesight to carry you through a close-range personal defensesituation. You had better devote some serious practice time to workingon no-sights shooting techniques. That and the drill may well be whatsaves your young butt.

hsjfults coveTennessee130/88"You can learn from where you've been, but you've got to go from whereyou stand."

The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted. — D.H. Lawrence

D.H. Lawrence would reconsider that statement if he lived beside us today. That Old Fashioned High Grade Home Brewed Wildcat Soul poured up in Old America's Mason Jar is becoming watered down. The level grows ever shallow as we digress daily from the "True American Train of Thought." We are plowed, cultivated and sowed daily with the obamanation's hypothesis of how we should live and watered and fertilized by a system of government that has become clouded and mired with the elected participants desire to be reelected. I can't believe my ears at the crap that comes out of the mouths of both Democrats and Republicans. I have become cynical and hardened by the continuous collateral damage dumped on this country like so much agent orange rotting the leaves from the trees and drying up the roots of American willpower. I spent the weekend with a few friends and a mass of worthless individuals that slink through life with no more apparent desire to be an American than an African Baboon which I hate with a passion. They along with the majority of what walks the streets of this country are useless as they have no morals, no backbone and will never have an essential American soul in any sense of the word. This country is doomed to a slow death brought on by slothful parents ignorant of the benefits of living in this country and too lazy to teach their children such. They mooch and beg for an easier way, they crawl all day to get a handhold on things that are as null and void of value as a fur coat on a Bison. These people have no meaning in their life except to be seen in the right places wearing the right tattoo and to be sure and say the "Perfect Politically Correct Statement," so much Bull Shit but it goes a long way these days with the masses. No don't judge what I write, judge yourself first, where do you stand or better yet what do you stand for?

Friday, August 23, 2013

My father and I were doing a lot of work on the Gulf Coast back in the 80s and were contracted to raise and salvage an old freighter of a ship that was sunk near Port Bienville Mississippi. We had an old 80 ft. Model Bow Tug that Dad had raised in Galveston Bay and had brought to Slidell Louisana where we had a Salvage yard. I had rebuilt her there and she was a good old boat. We had contracted out to the DEA to bring all their seized vessels to Port Bienville. We ranged from Pensacola Florida to Morgan City Louisana. She had 398 Cats and Twin Disc Transmissions pushing a couple of 60 inch wheels we had her down along side the Cubahama and I was looking around figuring out what it was going to take to get her up. The Wooden Name Plates on the sides of the old freighter were painted white and lettered in black the name Wanda Jean. The Name Plates were about 6 ft long 14 inches wide and I took my pocket knife out and scratched one and found they were made of Mahogany so I took them down to save. When I got the first one down I turned it over and on the inside was carved Cubahama. I kept them and the oars of one of the old rotted lifeboats the oars were approximately 16 ft long and light as a feather. I also salvaged some of the built in cabinetry from the Captains Quarters all of which I have today. One of the Cubahama Placks hangs in our home and there is a pic below. We stopped her leaks, pumped her up and had her towed to Galveston where she was scrapped. I never new much of anything about her till one day out of curiosity I Googled her name and you can read the info below. She was a fine vessel even in her dilapidated condition and I would have loved to have seen her in her heyday. She had been hauling Bananas from Central America and had come to Port with a load of Grass hidden in her hold where she was found out and seized by the DEA. She had lain up at Bienville for many years but was mostly forgotten. A Hurricane had blew up and the Port had had her towed up a little back water and she was scuttled to hold her down as they were afraid she would be blown around by the Hurricane and do damage to other vessels or the Port. So here are some pics and History of this fantastic old forgotten Ship that served our Country.My Thanks to Ron over at the Loftsman Blog for all the work he does to document and share the wonderful pictures and info from Leith Shipyard and others. http://www.leithshipyards.com/. All the info provided below these two pics came from Ron.

M.V.Cubahama

Ship No 262

She was a twin screw motor cargo vessel, of 932 tons ordered by Bahama Line U.S.A.

With a length overall of 250 feet and a beam of 38 feet.

She was launched from the Leith shipyard of Henry Robb on 28th June 1938 and was to go on to have a very interesting history which included her time as a U.S. Navy ship of the Kaula Class and the new name of U.S.S. Kaula.

From the book Leith Built Ships on War Service, printed sometime in 1946 by the Shipbuilders Henry Robb Ltd of Leith, Scotland. (See Picture above)

M.V. “Cubahama” The building and delivering of this fine 15-knot ship to her United States owners in 1938 caused a mild furore in british Shipbuilding circles. Built specially for the West Indies banana trade, this ship was requisitioned by the air branch of the U.S. Navy and eventually purchased outright and re-named U.S. “Kaula.” Whilst attached to the Naval Air Arm, the ship rendered very useful service in the Pacific campaigns and took part in some epoch-making battles.

'USS Kaula (AG-33) was built in 1938 by Henry Robb Ltd, in Leith, Scotland. She was acquired by the U.S. Navy as Cubahama 3 January 1941 from her owner, Balboa Shipping Company of New York and renamed Kaula 15 January then commissioned at Baltimore, Maryland 22 January with Lieutenant Commander W. L. Ware in command.

(Courtesy of Navsource Project General Manager, Manager, Auxiliaries, Amphibious and Yard and District Craft Archives)

• During World War II USS Kaula was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater

• Decommissioned, 14 January 1946

• Struck from the Naval Register, 12 March 1946

• Transferred to the Maritime Commission, 15 July 1946 for sale to her former owners

• Final Disposition, (See more below)

Specifications:

Displacement 2,100 t.(lt) 2,250 t.(fl)

Length 269' 9"

Beam 38' 3"

Draft 13' 5" (lim)

Speed 15.1 kts (trial)

Complement

Officers 7

Enlisted 63

Largest Boom Capacity 3 t.

Armament

one single 4"/50 cal gun mount

two single 3"/50 cal dual purpose gun mounts

four .50 cal. machine guns

Fuel Capacity Diesel 1,120 Bbls

Propulsion

two Atlas Diesel engines

Ship's Service Generators

two Diesel-drive 60Kw 240V D.C.

two Diesel-drive 40Kw 240V D.C.

two propellers, 2,240shp

Class Notes:

FY: None (acquired with funds appropriated for "Maintenance Bureau of Ships"). On 23 November 1940 CNO directed the acquisition of this ship for use as a miscellaneous auxiliary (AG). She was needed to carry cargo to outlying bases in the 14th (Hawaiian) Naval District, particularly Johnston and Palmyra Islands, and was accordingly named after an island in the Hawaiian group. (Early Navy correspondence misrepresented her Navy name as Kaulahe, and this erroneous name was actually welded on her stern in raised letters.) She was taken over from the Balboa Shipping Co., a subsidiary of the United Fruit Co., and given a limited conversion by Bethlehem SB Co., Key Highway Plant, Baltimore, Md. No guns were mounted during this conversion--they were added in 1942 at Pearl Harbor. Much of the cargo carried was ammunition and other explosives, and sprinklers were added to some of her holds in 1942 to give her some protection against fire. She served as an inter-island supply ship in the Hawaii area until May 1945 and was then reassigned to Alaska. In 1946 she was resold to her former owner through the MC (WSA). (Taken from U.S. Naval Sources.)

Broadside view of USS Kaula (AG-33) underway in Puget Sound, 26 July 1945. Naval Air Station, Seattle photo # 19-N-89167, a Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives RG-19-LCM.

(Below is from the U.S. Coastguard Files, courtesy of -Archivist

Naval History & Heritage Command http://www.history.navy.mil/)

Kaula, 1941

AG-33

(ex-Cubahama)

A small, rocky, 550-foot high islet in the Hawaiian Islands, nearly 20 miles westsouthwest

of Niihau Island.

Builder: Henry Robb, Ltd., Leith, Scotland

Commissioned: 1938 (private); 3 January 1941

Decommissioned: 14 January 1946

Length: 267'

Beam: 38' 3"

Draft:

Displacement: 2,100 tons

Propulsion:

Performance:

Max: 12 knots

Economic:

Deck Gear:

Complement: 70

Armament: 1 x 4"; 2 x 3"; 4 x .50 cal MG

Electronics:

History:

Kaula (AG-33) was built in 1938 by Henry Robb, Ltd., Leith, Scotland; acquired as

Cubahama 3 January 1941 from her owner, Balboa Shipping Co., New York. She

was renamed Kaula on 15 January and commissioned at Baltimore 22 January,

She was still called CUBAHAMA 1947, and then renamed WANDAJEAN 1976. Deleted 1993. So this fine vessel seems to have disappeared from records around 1993. This would complete a near 55 year service history and tribute to the Shipbuilders of Henry Robb

Copyright Notice

COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Audwin McGee and Sons of Savages (www.sonsofsavages.com), 2008-2009-2010-2011,2012,2013,2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog's author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Sons of Savages with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

About Me

I’m a Southern Boy, just 56 last November, I get around here and there, Central America, Africa, Red Bay. I’m a Father, Grandfather, Husband, Artist and general flunky of sorts. Live in a little historic town in an old building I remodeled. Just wanted to hear myself think I guess, talk about the need of simplification, show some art, express an interest or two, brag on my dogs and see where it goes. That’s it!, That’s the deal, Thanks